Today's Top Alzheimer's News

May 1, 2014

George Vradenburg quoted in Governing Magazine about Alzheimer's care and diagnosis in US, Senate Hearing on Innovation highlights need for increased research funding, and how one video game is spurring dialogue around Alzheimer's (read more).

Must reads

An article in the May 2014 edition of Governing Magazine reported that while "the United States may be a leader in the search for a cure...it lags behind other countries when it comes to diagnosing and caring for people with dementia." According to the article, "But that emphasis and the fragmented nature of U.S. health care means America lags behind some other developed nations in critical areas such as diagnosis. In the U.S., more than 50 percent of dementia patients go undiagnosed. But in Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland, for instance, patients with dementia are diagnosed with the condition 70 percent of the time. “That says they’re on top of their physician community, getting them to recognize this and diagnose and treat it like any other disease condition,” Vradenburg says."

An April 30, 2014 Science Mag article reported on the proceedings of a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on innovation that featured the heads of the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and presidential science adviser John Holdren. According to the article, "The hearing, titled “Driving Innovation through Federal Investment,” was designed to showcase the enormous payoff to society from federal funding of academic research over the decades, from the Internet and stealth technology to MRI and better weather forecasting. But the next generation of new technologies is threatened by the inconsistent pattern of support for science over the past decade…Responding to a question from reporters about funding prospects in 2015 for specific agencies, Mikulski talked about the harmful effects of sequestration on the overall scientific enterprise. “We don’t like to cherry-pick. We like to make sure the whole orchard grows. But we have to watch out for the pesticide of sequester,” Mikulski said."

An April 30, 2014 Fast Company article reported on the efforts of video game designers to raise awareness of Alzheimer's through a game called Cascade that "mirrors not only the pathology of Alzheimer's but also leading therapeutic strategies." According to the article, "Bushell wants Cascade to be a positive influence. Talk about the game, and you often end up talking about the disease. “And that side of things is very intensive because obviously, we’re all human beings, we’ve all suffered loss in one way or another."

An April 30, 2014 GPB Newds article reported on Georgia's efforts to increase research funding for Alzheimer's and highlighted the need for political action. According to the article, "Lah says the progress of Alzheimer’s research depends on the amount of resources and money that will become available as more people learn about the disease. But Harriet Schaffer says the big funding depends on the support of politicians, not galas and fundraisers."

Why 2020?

USAgainstAlzheimer’s has retained its goal of stopping Alzheimer’s by 2020 rather than endorsing the goal of the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s Disease that calls for preventing and effectively treating the disease by 2025. While we support the national plan and its goals, we believe, as most every family touched by Alzheimer’s disease believes, that preventing and effectively treating Alzheimer's by 2025 is simply too long a wait for concrete progress. There are promising avenues of drug discovery and development that will, if successful, deliver a means of slowing or deferring Alzheimer's symptoms by 2020. By voicing the urgency felt by so many families, we will pressure researchers and industry to do all in their power to make that happen.